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Electric shock: Porsche confirms next 718 Cayman/Boxster as battery-powered sportscar
Posted by Talbot Payne on March 21, 2022
The auto industry’s worst-kept secret is out: the Porsche 718 Cayman/Boxster is going all-electric.
At its annual conference Friday, the German brand confirmed that its entry-level sports cars will maintain their mid-engine proportions for its 2025 model, but with a battery pack in front of the electric-motor-driven rear axle like the Mission E concept shown at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show. Porsche’s major announcement was the latest indication that the push towards electrification is not just focused on new nameplates — but is disrupting the lineups of iconic gas models as well.
The Porsche joins halo cars like the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and Subaru WRX STI, as The Detroit News reported this week, that are transforming to battery-power — appealing to a new generation of buyers while risking the alienation of a customer base that has prized the vehicles’ rowdy engine songs. The Cayman/Boxter’s signature, flat-6 engine lets out a spin-tingling shriek at 9,000 RPM in the GT4 RS model — a markedly different experience than the silent power of Porsche’s first electric nameplate, the Taycan sedan.
The disruption has prompted analysts like iSeeCars’ Karl Brauer to warn of a second “Dark Age” of performance like the 1970s, when government regulations and high gas prices forced automakers to retreat from high-performance designs. But even as new government edicts are compelling an end to internal-combustion engines, automakers assure customers that next-gen electric cars will be better than ever.
“Our industry is experiencing what is probably the greatest transformation in its history,” said Oliver Blume, chairman of Porsche’s executive board. “We are stepping up our electric offensive with another model: By the middle of the decade, we want to offer our mid-engine 718 sports car exclusively in an all-electric form.”
The Volkswagen luxury unit will also offer a gas-electric hybrid version of the iconic 911. The manufacturer, whose parent is preparing an initial public offering of the brand, expects electric models to be just as profitable as combustion engine vehicles in about two to three years, according to Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke, Bloomberg News reported.
“We already achieved double digit profitability now for the Taycan and we are working hard to reach the same profitability as we already have for our combustion engine cars,” Meschke said during a call with reporters. “I am convinced that we will achieve this in a period of two to three years.”
Porsche plans for half of its sales to be battery-only or hybrid models by 2025, including a fully-electric version of the Macan SUV, before moving to 80% of sales that are exclusively powered by a battery by 2030. Keeping up profit margins at Porsche, VW’s most profitable brand next to Audi and Lamborghini, is key for the group to help finance the industry’s biggest shift to electric cars.
Volkswagen and its controlling shareholder, the billionaire Porsche-Piech family, are pushing ahead with a listing of Porsche even as global markets face major turmoil because of the war in Ukraine.
An IPO “could sharpen Porsche’s profile and boost its entrepreneurial options,” Meschke said in a statement. “At the same time, Volkswagen and Porsche will be able to benefit from joint synergies.”
The potential listing is estimated to value the sports car brand at as much as 85 billion euros ($96 billion), according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That compares with total market valuation of 96 billion euros of the entire Volkswagen group. The move would partly reverse a tumultuous takeover of Porsche more than a decade ago.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne. Monica Raymunt of Bloomberg News contributed to this report.